The background of the invention is set forth in two parts: the field of the invention and the description of related art.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for electronic media program recognition and choice. In particular, it relates to a method and apparatus for recognition of radio and television programs and choice of appropriate programs by the listener/viewer. The programs may either be broadcast or stored on videotape or other storage media.
2. Description of Related Art
Radio and television communications pervade the human environment. Some of those capable of receiving these communications would prefer to be able to more easily choose the programs to which they and/or their children are exposed. Empowerment of this portion of the listening/viewing audience involves providing means for automatic program recognition and selection or blocking. Without such empowerment, excessive censoring of electronic media could occur.
Prior art means for automatic program recognition and selection or blocking are relatively unsophisticated or impractical. U.S Pat. Nos. 4,081,754 by Jackson, May 24, 1977 and 4,228,543 by Jackson, Oct. 14, 1980 disclose means whereby a parent can preset a device to block channels or individual programs based on a prior knowledge of their broadcast schedule. A commercially-available embodiment of this concept has the trade name "Telecommander." With these technologies, the day, time, and channel of objectionable programs must be known and unvarying. Moreover, if a large number of individual objectionable programs are scheduled to be broadcast, these technologies can require much time-consuming programming.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,158 by Vogel, May 29, 1990 discloses a selective video playing system. This system requires that a user input a security code to enable selection of videos within a set of classification codes for playing. U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,160 by Vogel, May 29, 1990 discloses a method for automatic censorship of video programs. The method involves storing a set of video program classification codes, receiving a video signal and a program classification code descriptive of the signal, comparing the code with the set of codes in memory, and either causing the video signal to be displayed or, if appropriate, causing an alternative video signal to be played. Thus, with these inventions, classification codes (program ratings) must be received with the video signal that can be used to enable or disable a user choice. Government action could be required to ensure the presence and proper use of program classification codes. Moreover, some parents will disagree with some of the program ratings and be powerless to prevent the viewing of programs they deem unsuitable. This approach is popularly termed the "V-chip" approach.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,079 by Rufus-Isaacs, Oct. 22, 1991 discloses an apparatus for controlling television monitoring. It provides an arrangement for limiting the time that a viewer can view television. U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,372 by Sweetser, Dec. 1, 1992 discloses a television viewing control system for monitoring and controlling the viewing time of a plurality of viewers watching a television set and disabling viewing when a predetermined viewing time has expired. A commercially-available embodiment of this concept has the trade name "TimeOut." Thus, with these inventions, all programming over a preselected amount is blocked. Significantly, unsuitable programs may be viewed if a child's viewing time has not been expended.
The prior art discloses a variety of broadcast signal recognition means. U.S. Pat. No. 3,919,479 by Moon et al., Nov. 11, 1975 discloses a broadcast signal identification system. U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,990 by Lert, Jr. et al., Oct. 28, 1980 discloses a broadcast program identification method and system. U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,531 by Kenyon et al., May 22, 1984 discloses a broadcast signal recognition system and method. U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,917 by Koahler et al., Apr. 16, 1985 discloses a method for determining agreement between an analysis signal and at least one reference signal. U.S. Pat. No. 4,547,804 by Greenberg, Oct. 15, 1985 discloses a method and apparatus for the automatic identification and verification of commercial broadcast programs. U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,779 by Greenberg, Jan. 27, 1987 discloses a method and apparatus for the automatic identification and verification of television broadcast programs. U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,466 by Lert, Jr. et al., Jun. 30, 1987 discloses a broadcast program identification method and apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,209 by Kiewit et al., Sep. 29, 1987 discloses methods and apparatus for automatically identifying programs viewed or recorded. U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,398 by Thomas et al., Apr. 19, 1988 discloses a method, apparatus, and system for recognizing broadcast segments. U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,562 by Kenyon et al., Jun. 27, 1989 discloses a broadcast system and method. With this method, a spectragram of broadcast information is produced and compared to reference spectragrams. Pattern recognition methods are used to recognize the information. U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,730 by Schulze, Apr. 17, 1990 discloses a process and circuit arrangement for the automatic recognition of signal sequences. U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,871 by Kramer, Jun. 5, 1990 discloses a method and system for identification and verification of broadcast program segments. U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,273 by Greenberg, Oct. 30, 1990 discloses a television program transmission verification method and apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,899 by Boles et al., May 28, 1991 discloses an electronic data encoding and recognition system. With all of these inventions, program recognition does not trigger program unlocking. All of the U.S. patents referenced herein are incorporated by reference into this disclosure as if fully set forth herein.